English text used: Pelagius, Commentaries on the Thirteen Epistles of Paul with the Libellus Fidei (trans. Thomas P. Scheck; Ancient Christian Writers 76; New York: The Newman Press, 2022), hereafter “Scheck”
Latin text consulted: Alexander
Souter, Pelagius's Exposition of Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul, II: Text and
Apparatus Criticus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926), hereafter
“Souter”
Eph 1:1
All
saints are faithful, [not all the faithful are saints, since they can
also be catechumens (non omnes fideles sancti, quia possunt etiam catechumini)].
(Scheck, 247; Souter, 344)
Eph 2:8-10
2:8 “for by grace you are saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves.” Not by the merits of one’s former life, but by
faith alone (sed sola fide), yet not without faith. “But it is the gift of God,
2:9 not of works, [that] no one would boast.” [Boast] that he had
received anything in baptism by his own merits (Se suis meritis aliquit in
baptismo accepisse). 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
[Jesus] in good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.” For we
were recently reborn in Christ [cf. John 3:3, 5], in order that we should walk
in good works, which have been shown in the gospel [cf. Matt 5:16] (Qu[i]a
nuper sumus in Christo renati, ut in bonis operibus ambulemus, quae in
euangelio sunt ostensa). (Scheck, 252; Souter, 353)
Eph 4:30
“In
whom you were sealed into the day of redemption.” On the day of your baptism
you received the seal of the Holy Spirit. You began to have a new seal (Signaculum
sancti spiritus in die baptismi accepistis, nouum signaculum habere coepistis).
(Scheck, 261; Souter, 371)
Phil 1:2
Here
we understand bishops as the priests. For there would not have been
multiple bishops in a single city, but this is likewise found in the Acts of
the Apostles [cf. Acts 20:28]. (Scheck, 270)
I
believe that Pelagius’s view is the same as Jerome’s, that initially priests
were not distinguished in their office from bishops. Jerome writes in his Commentary
on Titus 1:5b (St. Jerome’s Commentaries on Galatians, Titus and
Philemon, trans. Thomas P. Scheck [Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame
Press, 2010], 289-90): “Philippi is a single city in Macedonia, and at least in
one city several were not able to be bishops, as they are now thought. But
because that time they called the same men bishops whom they also called
priests, therefore he has spoken indifferently of bishops as if of priests.”
Jerome then cites Acts 20:28 as further proof and says, “And observe here very
carefully how, by summoning the priests of the single city of Ephesus, later he
has spoken of the same men as bishops. If anyone wants to receive that epistle
which is written in Paul’s name to the Hebrews, even there care for the church
is shared equally by many.” He then cites Heb 13;17 and 1 pet 5:1-2 for further
corroboration and concludes, “These things [have been said] in order to show
that to the men of old the same men who were the priests were also the bishops;
but gradually as the seed beds of dissensions were eradicated, all solicitude
was conferred on one man.” A Plummer, A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to
the Philippians (London: Robert Scott Rexburghe House, 1919), 5, notes that
in the NT and Clement of Rome, bishop and priest are convertible
terms. (Scheck, 402-3 n. 1)
Phil 2:12-13
2:12 “And so, my dearly believed [brethren], as
you have always obeyed.” By the example of him who “obeyed to the point of
death” [cf. Phil 2:8]. “not as [in] my presence only.” As slaves performing eye
service [cf. Eph 6:6]. “But much more now in my absence.” Since if you acted
somewhat more freely when I was present, you could be [more quickly amended or]
corrected. “With fear and trembling work our your salvation.” Not with
negligence, but as Job [says]: “I feared all my works [because of God], knowing
that you did not spare the offender” [Job 9:28 Vulg], and the Holy Spirit of
God rests upon “the lowly and quiet and the one who trembles at the words” [Isa
66:2 LXX]. 2:13 “For it is God who works in you, both to will [and] to
perfect.” He works to will by persuasion and by promising rewards (Uelle
operatur suadendo et praemia promittendo); he works to perfect when he
says, “Whoever perseveres unto the end shall be saved” [Matt 24:13]. But if the
perfecting is not entirely our own, neither is the willing, since
in this passage both are contained by the same definition (ceterum si perficere
non est nostrum omnino, nec uelle, quia utrumque eadem hoc loco definitione
tenetur). “For the sake of good will.” If you abide in these things (Si in ea
maneatis). (Scheck, 276; Souter, 400)
A.
Dupont and G. Malavasi, “The Question of the Impact of Divine Grace in the
Pelagian Controversy: Human Posse, Velle et Esse according to Pelagius,
Jerome, and Augustine,” Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique 112 (2017): 546,
cite this passage to confirm their summary of Pelagius’s doctrine that he
accepts that God works in us the desire for what is good. “However, Pelagius
adds, God acts only in three ways: first, by the greatness of the glory to
come; second, by the revelation of his wisdom; and finally, by urging or
persuading (suadet) toward everything that is good.” (Scheck, 403 n. 6)
Phil 4:22
[The
brethren who are with me greet you.] Therefore there were holy people (sancti)
[all of] whom alone he [also] commands to be greeted, just as he also does in
all his letters, and doubtless one should believe that he spoke the truth. And
if they were truly holy, surely they were not sinners, and those who were not
sinners but saints were both able to be what they were, and were not able to be
what they were not. Therefore, it is possible by this reckoning that human
beings be saints (igitur sanctos homines esse hac ratione possibile est).
(Scheck, 284; Souter, 416)
The
possibility of sanctity is a key Pelagian tent that was accused by two of his
ecclesiastical opponents, Augustine and Jerome, but for diverse reasons.
Augustine claimed (De Haeresibus 88) that Pelagius’s intention in
affirming the possibility of sanctify was to deny the need for the church to
pray the Our Faither daily. “Forgive us our debts.” Jerome claimed (Ep 133.1 to
Ctesiphon) that Pelagius’s intent was to equate human beings with God himself.
Both inferences strike me as unjust to Pelagius’s real purpose. (Scheck, 404 n.
17)
Col 1:15
Firstborn
in accordance with the form of man he assumed [cf. Phil 2:7], [first], not in
respect to time but dignity (Primogenitus secundum adsumpti hominis formam, non
tempore sed honore), in accordance with the following: “Israel [is] my first
born son” [Exod 4:22]. (Scheck, 286; Souter, 454)
Col 2:9
“For
in him dwells all the fullness of the divine corporeality.” All the fullness
of the divine nature dwells in his body (Omnis plenitudo diuinae naturae in
corpore eius inhabitat). (Scheck, 289; Souter, 459)
